My dear friends, I hope you’re doing fine and your start into the new week was not too rough. I was back home in Germany during the last week and spent some relaxing days with my family (and inofficially celebrated my graduation – one must celebrate when one has the chance, right?). Coming home without a to-do list long enough to paper an entire room felt so good, but you probably know that, there’s always a little something to do. But that’s okay. Back in Amsterdam, I’m really getting into that Christmas spirit and set my sights on decorating my apartment all-christmassy this year. And with that comes tea, cozy socks and comforting food. Could be worse and makes the dark months so much more bearable.

It’s no secret anymore that I’m a huge fan of warming oatmeals during the colder months of the year, especially for breakfast. I already shared my coconut and fig version with you on Instagram and the blog last year, but this year, I somehow couldn’t get enough of plums and had a phase where I put them in my morning oatmeal or just had them for snacking.

Even though plums are just off-season in Western Europe (they typically peak in July-October) and I’m always trying to stick to seasonal fruits and veggies, I don’t want to withhold the recipe inspiration for you until next year. I also tried the recipe with coconut milk instead of almond, but there is just something I really like about the almond, plum and cinnamon combo during these pre-Christmassy mornings.

Wow, scrolling through the last posts is a written confirmation that the past year basically did not happen and that it just passed by waaay too fast. Wasn’t it Christmas only yesterday? So much has happened this past year. Besides having moved to another place for half a year and finally rounding off my studies (not a school kid anymore, unbelievable), I decided to stay in Amsterdam on a more permanent basis. It feels so good to know that it actually makes sense to buy furniture that you really like – no need to resell them again after a few months’ time. Anyway, here we are again, hesitantly starting to listen to Christmas playlists, officially opening the “scarf-season” and writing that note to ourselves that we better won’t forget to leave the house with a pair of gloves the next day. The worst on a bike.

But before I’m going to soak up all that Christmas craziness in the coming weeks, here’s a recipe that for some reason awakes the memories of summer and connects them to these cozy, warming late fall evenings. This Mediterranean Tortano bread reminds me of mild summer nights spent in Italy last summer, but due to its very hearty taste, I personally think it is the perfect companion for a soup. I made it a few weeks ago and we had pumpkin soup with it, but honestly I can imagine it goes just as well with carrot, sweet pumpkin or paprika soup.

As my dear friend Hannah from Kuechenrebellin (thank you for the inspiration!) already mentioned, the good thing about this stuffed Tortano bread is that it allows your creativity full bent. You can adapt it how you like, just make sure that the fillings won’t be too moist. I believe the canned paprika I bought were preserved in oil, garlic and herbs, so if you want some additional aroma, I suggest you also add a clove of garlic. Enough said, here’s the recipe:

I am an avowing Christmas time fan, which implicates that I sneak cinnamon in basically everything imaginable these days – cereals, cakes and even pasta sauce (which tastes amazing by the way, especially in Bolognese). So, I figured, this apple galette would be the perfect next opportunity to allow full bent on my Christmas spice addiction as it is not only added to the filling, but already in the dough – cinnamon overload, so to say.

I first came across galettes during one of our many trips to France, where the speciality is also originally coming from. Depending on the region in France, this can either mean kind of a buckwheat pancake with a savoury filling, or a cake. No matter what, the most rememberable characteristic probably is that the edge of the galette partly cover the filling.

This apple galette is not sugery at all, which is why you can easily have it for breakfast without any regrets. As for a tea time companion, it tastes best with a big spoon full of freshly whipped cream on the side.

apple galette with cinnamon and walnuts

250 g flour1 tsp cinnamon70 g sugar1 pinch of salt1 egg125 g cold butter50 g chopped walnuts30 g sugar2 tsp cinnamon1 tbsp melted butter 2-3 thinly sliced apples1. For the shortcrust pastry, give flour, cinnamon, sugar and salt on the worktop and place the egg in the middle of the pile. 2. Cut the butter in smaller pieces and place around the egg. Then knead the dough until everything is well incorporated, wrap it up in cling film and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 3. In the meantime, mix sugar, cinnamon and walnuts for the filling and chop apples.4. Preheat the oven to 170°C. 5. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out into a round shape – approximately 0,5 cm thin. Then place it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 6. Melt the butter and brush the dough with it. Then spread 3/4 of the walnut-cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly on the dough.7. Place the sliced apples on the dough. I started in the middle and made sure that every slice overlapped the next one so that in the end, the dough is invisibly. Leave an edge of about 3 cm all around. 8. Take the free edges and pull them towards the middle of the galette.9. Sprinkle the rest of the nut-spice mixture over the apples and bake it for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven until it is golden brown.

To start off the christmas season right, I began to add to my regular banana smoothie a pinch of speculoos spice blend I recently bought (and actually was intended for baking) a few days ago. You can also easily do it yourself by mixing ground cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. It was just a small variation to a basic recipe, but turned out surprisingly good so I wanted it to share with you.

I also happened to have some leftovers of a late-night chocolate mug cake, which worked nice as a topping. This reminded me of the fact that sometimes it’s not the extravagant, fancy ingredients that make all the difference. This smoothie works also perfectly fine to cure immediate cookie cravings, as I feel it is just a liquid form of the classic speculoos cookie.

banana speculoos smoothieserves two cookie-thirsty persons1,5 ripe bananas300 ml almond milk1 tbsp ground almonds1 tsp speculoos spice blendagave syrup2-3 ice cubes1. Place all the ingredients in your mixer and mix until the consistency is light and creamy. Top with cookies if you want.2. Put on your favorite christmas music and enjoy.

Is there anything better than watching the rain while nestling on the couch with a large pile of blankets? Yes, there is. Watching the rain while sitting on the couch with a large pile of blankets and knowing that a large baking sheet full of cinnamon buns is about to be ready! For me, there probably is no other recipe which I associate as much with winter and cozy late afternoons as this one. The scent of cinnamon and sugar in the air, watching the fluffy yeast dough rise and awaiting eagerly to take a huge bite of the warm buns coming right out the oven definitely is my kind of a perfect Sunday. I sometimes, when no one is watching, even dream about whole towns built out of cinnamon buns – wouldn’t that be amazing? Driving in a cinnamon bun bus to a cinnamon bun university. Could be worse.

This yeast dough recipe is just a basic one, not too sweet, which leaves so much room for experimentation. The filling is not too sugary either, as I prefer to get a little additional sweetness from the cream cheese frosting. I hope you’re having a relaxing, peaceful rest of the week!

classic cinnamon buns 500 g flour1 pack (7 g) dry yeast70 g sugar1 pinch of salt250 ml milk75 g butter1 egg2 tbsp melted butter50 g sugar3 tsp cinnamon1 egg yolk1. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients.2. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the milk.3. Pour the butter-milk mixture in the mixing bowl and add the egg.4. With your hand mixer or food processor knead the dough until all the ingredients are well combined. If necessary, add a little more flour. Form a dough ball and let it rise at a warm place for about an hour or until it doubled its size. 5. Roll out dough into a rectangle about 0,5 cm thick. Then spread dough with melted butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar-cinnamon mix.6. Roll it up lengthwise and cut in about 2 cm thick slices. Place the pieces into an ovenproof dish (make sure there is enough space between the rolls) and let it rise for another 20 mins. 7. Preheat oven to 200°C. 8. Brush rolls with egg yolk and bake them for about 15 mins until they’re golden brown. 9. I personally like to cover them with a light cream cheese frosting right after they come out of the oven so they’ll be extra moist. You just have to mix about 1 tbsp of cream cheese with some icing sugar and some fresh lemon juice.